News

2011-08-12 13:55:41.58

Sandwich Stop Sends Arkansas Couple a $30,000 Surprise

It’s been an exciting week for Luxora, Ark., residents Henry and Carolyn Herron. Not only did the couple, who celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary in June, welcome their third grandchild into the family, but they also uncovered a $30,000 top prize on a Missouri Lottery “Quick $100” Scratchers ticket.

The Herrons, whose two children are grown, said they feel like they’ve “been on vacation for almost 11 years,” because that’s when Henry started driving a truck around the country for a living with his wife as his co-rider.

“We get to see the world and meet interesting people,” began Henry. “We just get to go everywhere, see everything and do a little bit of stuff in between. It’s been a good life.”

It was while making a delivery in early August that the pair stopped at Mr. T’s Liquor Store, 510 U.S. Highway 412 in Cardwell, for bologna sandwiches and Scratchers tickets.

As Henry drove and Carolyn scratched the tickets, she informed her husband that they had won a $30,000 prize.

“I was in shock!” said Carolyn, who added that after she saw the prize amount, she couldn’t eat another bite of her sandwich. “We’d never won any big money. The most I’d ever won on a lottery ticket was $100.”

Henry, whose truck has more than a million miles on it, said the prize couldn’t have come at a better time, because he and his wife have been talking about replacing the truck’s engine.

“It’s amazing,” beamed Henry. “It’s going to stop me from having to go $20,000 in debt, because that’s exactly what it’s going to take to overhaul the motor.”

Carolyn added that when her husband told his co-workers, “Everybody at his office has been saying, ‘When are you going to bring us some of those lucky bologna sandwiches?’”

When asked to sum up the Lottery-winning experience, Carolyn smiled and said that she “already felt like a winner.”

“I married the man of my dreams, had two wonderful children and three grandbabies,” she reminisced. “We’re very blessed.”

“Quick $100,” a $2 game with a top prize of $30,000, officially began on April 30.